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A word about the evolution of the aviation system. The past decade has
seen a great leap in the application of digital systems to all sorts of
problems, including those of the aviation sector. Some new aircraft come
equipped with satellite-based navigation systems that are used to divorce
aircraft from ground-based beacon systems. The reason for this transformation
is something the airlines call
"Free Flight." Free Flight in the extreme is the ability of an aircraft
to fly unencumbered within the NAS. That means that the aircraft would
like to fly where it wants using the route it has determined, at the time
it wants, at the altitude it wants, without flow management constraints.
Any step that reduces the constraints on flight is a step towards Free
Flight.
Free Flight is an ideal state. It can never be achieved. There will always
be the safety imperative that will separate aircraft-this means that some
aircraft will not be able to fly exactly the way they want. There
will always be the need to apportion (hopefully equitably) the available
capacity of the NAS resources to the observed demand on the system. But,
Free Flight as a goal is right and proper, and although we can never achieve
it, getting as close as possible within the statutory and moral constraints
of the aviation system is the right course. It's what the airspace user
wants, and it is what the civil aviation authorities around the world
(including the FAA) want to provide. The devil is in the details, and
such is the CAASD work program.
CAASD's research program is an effort to push the envelope in many different
areas, but, in the aggregate, is trying to obtain an achievable Free Flight.
MITRE's aviation research program has been doing this for years, and as
ideas and technologies mature, we gain opportunities to push the system
toward Free Flight.
A major source of future concepts has been the research program called
AERA, or Automated En Route Air Traffic Control. This program started
at MITRE in 1974, just as the present system finished its deployment.
Part of the AERA program envisioned an automated conflict probe (now being
implemented in URET) and computer assistance in resolving detected problems
(now being field-evaluated in PARR).
Another part of the AERA research program at MITRE envisioned a more
collaborative traffic flow management system built on shared data, coordinated
and shared what-if capabilities, and joint decision making between service
providers and airspace users. This part of the AERA research program is
being realized with the field testing of CRCT and other collaborative
decision making tools.
This rich source of ideas - developed in partnership with FAA headquarters
and air traffic controller personnel - is being prepared for the Web.
Soon, all the AERA research will be made available to anyone in the aviation
community.
The AERA research program is an instance of a long-duration exercise
to envision and achieve a future system free of many of the constraints
we see today. But there are also examples of smaller initiatives to enhance
the safety of the system. Take, for example, the 3D Surface marking Project.
This exercise is interesting because it is an adaptation of an artist's
techniques called "anamorphic projection" to runway markings. This techniques
produces an optical illusion when viewed from a certain angle (such as
the pilot's seat in the cockpit of an aircraft) that makes a runway marking
seem three-dimensional. This has the effect of increasing the pilot's
awareness and increasing safety.
Another example is CAASD's research into so-called "path objects." This
concept has evolved into a "path language" for expressing aircraft intentions.
The idea is to add software to an aircraft's flight path computer system
that would allow the aircraft to calculate its flight path based on patterns,
rather than have that path provided by air traffic control as a sequence
of waypoints. This has the effect of reducing air-ground communications
and increasing safety.
The research into the future of the NAS is a necessary part of what we
do. As the FAA's federal funded research and development center, we have
a mission imperative to envision where the U.S. aviation system must head
to satisfy the demands of all stakeholders.
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